Yes I'm an atheist but I did like this TED Talk by Karen Armstrong where she makes her TED Prize wish for the Charter for Compassion. "People want to be religious, says scholar Karen Armstrong; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious do."
5 comments:
Wait, you're an atheist? Did I know that?
And, in 25-words-or-less, what is TED? Should I be following this?
I thought it was kinda obvious from the blog.
TED...is good....and yes.
I'm not sure "Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you." would necessarily be a good thing. One way of looking at it is what some religious people do to themselves that I wouldn't. e.g. catholic priests are celibate, Shakers went further and everyone was supposed to be celibate, hair shirts, self flagellation still popular in Phillipines, Islamic prayers 6 times a day, ...
If rephrased as compassion then it might be better. But even then is it more compassionate to restrict the actions of other people than to let them go to hell? Isn't that a recipe for tyranny?
Yet another atheist.
Fair point, but I think it's different how you treat others from trying to protect others from themselves. I don't think that's included in "do unto others..."
The pro-choice argument "if you're against abortion, don't have one" falls down when the other side is trying to protect a defenseless baby. I remember posting a video of interviews with with pro-life protestors who were confused when asked what punishment the woman should receive. None of them thought the woman should go to jail for murder (though perhaps the doctor should).
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